San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-01-04
MUNICIPAL SUGGESTIONS.


Year after year the same old girl goes
on. Our streets are standing rebuke
to our public enterprise, or rather our
lack Of 1t. Our sewerless condition ex-
poses us to the constant criticism OF
visitors from abroad and annually drives
Thousands OF dollars from seeking in
vestment here. Those who venture
here, lured by the reports Of healthy
climate and the openings for profitable
investments, are Mortified at discovering
a city of forty thousand inhabitants
without system OF sewerage. Accns-
toned, as these gentlemen are, to seeing
citiesof hllr our size thoroughly drained,
and 4 perfect system OF sewerage for
carrying OF all eflete matter, they are
thuadeTstTuck at our Tashness and i'm
providence in counting disease, miasma.
malaria and the presence OF epidemics
by saturating our soil with all the refuse
matter of our sinks, water closets and
whatever OF a liquid nature is evolved
In the course of the daily cooking. clean
ing, eating and drinking of a city
OF over forty thousand inhabitants.
To represent to these men the nature OF
our climate and its absolute purity, and
argue that these are an offset to all dan
ger from the foul gases arising from our
cesspools, is worse than idle. These
men know, as do our own best informed
II hot 10 fc of M
much impurIty can be neutralized by
the soil and pure air and rendered in
nOXious, and that when this limit is
passed a constant and ever increasing
deterioration OF the general health must
result These men know, rs do our own
sanitarians, that this limit Is already
passed, and that without general and
thorough system of sewerage San AntO-
MO cannot possibly be as healthy in the
future as she has been in the past. This
being beyond dispute there should be no
question of the immediate Inauguration
0y our city council of system Of sew
erage that would scientifically meet the
demands OF this city. A system Of sew
erage that, while leaving our beautiful
river infinitely purer and cleaner than it
is now, will carry beyond our
city limits, and away from all
possibility Of It's vitiating our air
all refuse matter Of every kind, and
So leave our soil, unsaturated with i'm
purities which give off their foul exhal.
arions in the atmosphere, free to do its
work OF healing and cleansing. Year
after year this work of vitiating the at
mosphere OF this city has continued I'M
til sanitary science has called halt.
The refuse matter that is carted of in
the garbage carts of the scsvenger force
is only small per cent of the whole.
Mother earth, the finest deOdoriZer in
the universe, cannot carry her work in
this city any farther. Every square rod
OF earth in the more thickly peopled pOr-
tons of this city has already done Its
work of sanitation and would prove un-
der chemical analysis the wOrthIessness
of that soil as \ deodOriZer. Natures
processes are slow, but she is a true
mother and her children must be true to
her or a terrible retributiOn will follow.
The fifth saturated soil OF this city is
constantly giving off exhslations that
endanger health, and the common cOun-
Oil of this city as the responsible 1ead OF
the people. as the fathers of the city"
in all that that name implies, are made
responsible for the consequences Of thus
endangering the public health.
We are on the eve of another public
election for "municipal fathers" Every
consideration save that of public fitness,
fitness to represent the intelligence, the
sanitary needs and the municipal neces-
stiles of this city, should be lost sight Of
In selecting the council of the future.
Taught wisdom by the experiences of
the past, let our citizens entrust the gov
ernment Of the city during lsS7-SS to
men Of approved common sense; men of
broad philanthropic spirit; men of wise
and instructed judgments concerning
municipal matters; men who do not
make a mOckcry Ofpublic business, and
who have higher conception OF NUM-
cipal responsibilities than TO make mu.
niGipal office the servant OF their own
private ends. TO cay that such
men cannot be induced to serve this
city ss cOuncilmen is all moonshine.
Let the business and intelligence and
worth of this city step to the front to
call out such men and prepare the way
for their coming before the people and
their election will surely follow. 1t is a
question pure and simple of municipal
salvation or damnatiOn at our next city
election, and Of this fact the thoughtful
men in San Antonio should take instant
notice and act accordingly.
The commercial agencies and authori-
ties all comment most favOrablv on the
outlook for business during 1887. 1t is
sincerely to be hoped that these prog
nostications, based upon careful re-
view OF the business and business drift
of the country, will not prove delusive
Dun's agency is more than hopeful, 1t
is sanguine, saying: Rarely has year
opened with greater disheartenment
than the year 1886; rarely has year
closed with more confidence" This ID
very encouraging, but it lie too far away
from home for practical purposes. This